


The Darkest Shade of Blue

by AvaCelt



Series: Gintama Prompt Fills [17]
Category: Gintama
Genre: Body Horror, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Horror, Multi, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Psychological Horror, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, Tumblr Memes, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-05-29 02:22:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6354922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvaCelt/pseuds/AvaCelt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of fics written for the "Ten Sentence Fic Meme." Originally posted on my <a href="http://victorsandvanquishers.tumblr.com/">Tumblr writing blog</a>, and now being archived here for the A03 writing community. Will feature a wide range of genres, characters, pairings, and themes. Series will be updated every time a total of five prompts are filled.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Prompt: hurt/comfort + ginzura**

As perturbed as he is these days, Gintoki has to begrudgingly admit that he had his chance. Sure, it was ten years ago and he was obsessed with rescuing his father, but even Takasugi knew that not much would have changed if Gintoki had just listened to his heart for once and not his unwavering sense of duty.

Of course, Gintoki never did, and after Tatsuma lost 75% usability of his sword arm, Shouyou died, and Takasugi disappeared, Zura too- what _did_ Zura do that rainy afternoon?

“Gin-san, Elizabeth-san sends his regards. He says a portion of the Renho have decided to stay on Earth to help Katsura-san adjust to his new position as Prime Minister. We've been invited for dinner tonight.”

Gintoki wiped a pinky full of boogers on his desk before waving Shinapachi off. “Later.”

Shinpachi shrugged and walked away, and Gintoki wondered, what did you do the day you left, Zura?

“You left without saying goodbye,” said Gintoki as he slipped his eyes shut and pushed away memories of the rain.

* * *

**Prompt: Also Sakamoto and Nobu?**

“Whaddaya mean, there's no point? Of course there's a point! If I marry him, my whole crew gets four weeks of paid vacation a year, Mutsu gets sufficient funding for her mecha monsters, and I finally get someone to massage my feet after sex without calling them stinky! They're not stinky, they're stressed!”

“He gave you a marriage contract right after you called him a gaping asshole in public,” Katsura deadpanned.

“You're in love with a duck monster!” Tatsuma all but screeched. “Thou shalt not judge!”

Katsura rubbed his forehead before giving up and downing his dish of sake. “You know what, never mind. Just promise me you'll tell Gintoki before he finds out from Leader and thinks the new Shogun's kidnapped you and holding you for ransom.”

* * *

**Prompt: Fluff and gintsu *3***

“I'm not in love with you,” Tsukuyou assures the sleeping man. “I'm just vaguely attached to your beauty. Well, you're not that pretty, but you've got your charms and a nice butt, but that's besides the point. Hinowa tells me I have to channel my inner 'Prince Charming' to wake you up, or the trick will never work, and you'll sleep forever. Please don't sleep forever. We can't afford to keep Kagura fed through the winter.”

Tendrils of wispy, white smoke curl away from Tsukuyou's smoking pipe, and even when she puts the kiseru down on the bed and leans over Gintoki's prone figure, the smoke drifts up and into the air, painting the moment different from any of the others she's shared with Gintoki.

“Wake up, asshole,” she grits through her teeth, tears stinging eyes.

She jumps when she feels cracked lips peck her on the mouth before the man who should have been poisoned by a rotten apple breaks into snickers. “Make me,” he whispers lazily, tired eyes slipping open.

* * *

**Prompt: Sakagin + angst**

Gintoki knows it's his fault, but he tries. After all, he's the one who rejected Tatsuma's offers to leave behind his miserable existence on Earth and aim for brighter pastures in space. In Gintoki's defense, he didn't need brighter pastures, a new home, or even a reason to live. Gintoki needed time, and when he said no to Tatsuma's offer, that had been the end of the conversation and quite possibly their friendship, had he not met Tatsuma ten years after his departure.

So Gintoki supposes he deserves the way Tatsuma looks at him after they've spent the night together, the refusal to wake up Gintoki with sweet kisses, the way he slips out of Otose's building with quiet steps and a sad smile, the way he disappears from Gintoki's life every morning because Gintoki's already said no once and suspects Gintoki will say no once more if he asks too much.

At first, Gintoki pretends not to notice or care because he has to remind himself that Tatsuma has a life outside their nightly trysts. Tatsuma runs a corporation; people depend on him for accessibility to food and shelter, and Gintoki's lust can't compete with that.

But see, lust is one thing, but the throbbing pain in his chest is something entirely different.

When Tatsuma tries to slip out at the crack of dawn on the twelfth night, Gintoki makes a loud, whining noise that wakes up the whole building. Tatsuma freezes in his arms and then Kagura and the Snack House occupants burst in to screech at Gintoki for ruining their beauty sleep, only to abruptly shut up and blabber apologies to Tatsuma, who's shirtless, and Gintoki, who sleepily clings to him like a leech.

Otose grunts, but smiles knowingly before leaving them alone, and once Tatsuma's breathing normally again, Gintoki nuzzles his stubby chin and says, “stay.”

And Tatsuma does.

* * *

**Prompt: hurt/comfort and ginzura :D**

“You're... leaving?” Gintoki's not the one to be shocked easily, but after twenty-two years of the bonafide Katsura Kotarou experience, he'd thought he'd gotten used to the foolishness.

Zura nods. “Elizabeth prepared tickets. Edo is free now, so there is no point in causing trouble anymore.” Zura chuckles deeply, smiling from ear to ear. “I have realized that I have warred long enough- it's time I found something to keep me company as the old world finally dies.”

“But you're the reason why they're instilling the Meiji initiative,” Gintoki deadpans. “How can you leave without seeing it through?”

“I don't have to remind you that it's not always about how things end,” Zura clips back, reminding Gintoki of the boy who almost didn't become his friend twenty-two years ago. “I... I have spent too much time fighting. I'd like to rest now. Elizabeth agrees, you know. He's taken off his mask. When the men see him, they freeze. He's entirely too beautiful for his good. I tell him it could have been useful in gathering information, but he glares at me and writes terrible things on his message board.” Now Zura begins to laugh outright, a deep, throaty laugh that comes from the bottom of his heart because Elizabeth is someone he cares for and loves with every fiber of his being.

Gintoki wonders if Zura's ever loved him that much.

“When do you leave?” He asks.

“A week from today,” Zura says, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

“I'll see you off,” Gintoki promises.

Zura nods but doesn't say anything else. Twelve years ago, Gintoki didn't see him off after Shouyou's death, and he supposes Zura thinks that he won't see him off this time either.

Twelve years ago, Gintoki wanted to hurt him. Today, Zura hurts him by turning away.

Gintoki supposes he deserves it.

* * *

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Prompt: Angst + Takagin**

The battles end as expected- Utsuro dies much like they always knew he would, Kamui dies along with him, Umibozu manages to escape by the skin of his teeth, and Kagura stops smiling.

After all, it was a momentous occasion. Death was everywhere, and after Tatsuma managed to get everyone aboard his ship and away from the festering shithole fondly remembered as Rakuyou, Gintoki meets Takasugi out on the deck.

“Was it the way you imagined it would turn out?” Gintoki asks curiously because he figured Takasugi found Utsuro long before any of the others.

“Yes,” Takasugi says, his eyes fixed on the stars. “He died smiling, as if he'd always known.”

“He died smiling then too,” Gintoki adds, 'then' being twelve years ago when Tenshouin Naraku had given Gintoki the ultimatum. “He lived smiling, so I suppose he'd wanted to go out smiling.”

Takasugi doesn't respond, and Gintoki doesn't prod any further- it's too late for reconciliations, he knows, too late for anything of substance because Shouyou is dead, their comrades are broken, and life keeps going.

* * *

**Prompt: Fluff + Ginzura**

No one has made fun of Katsura's third belly button since he came home with it because Elizabeth was a worthy rumormonger and the Renho man made sure everyone knew that the gunshot wound was worth being lauded. Katsura was sure he'd have a stroke if any of his men came to think of the little scar as anything less than a badge of honor. Of course Gintoki was neither his man or someone with much honor, so after a night of obscene sounds and subsequent snoring, the man began poking at his second belly button.

“Why is it so soft?” Gintoki mused out loud, letting his calloused index finger intermittently poke the scar.

“Because it's a part of my flesh now,” Katsura said tiredly, running his own calloused fingers through Gintoki's bushy, white hair. “And it looks cute when I put on crop tops for the host bar.”

“They're letting hosts wear crop tops now?” Gintoki croaked before breaking out into a bout of laughter.

“They allow me to air out my abs,” he huffed in response before pulling Gintoki in for a kiss and performing a repeat of the obscene sounds that kept his neighbors up the night before.

* * *

**Prompt: First Time + Sakagin**

“Tatsuma, we don't have any lube.”

“Whaaaa! I just bought some this morning!”

“Was it the edible kind? If it was the edible kind, Kagura probably gave it to Sadaharu, or worse, Catherine took it for herself and her new boyfriend!”

“B-but, that means we can't do the do! I wanted to the do the do! Gintoki, at this rate, we'll never be able to do the do! I'm gonna die a virgin, ahahahaaaaaaa!”

Tatsuma's wails are loud enough for Otose to throw tomatoes through their window and holler a string of curses afterwards. It's an early summer night, so the windows are open and they're both stark naked, but with Tatsuma's sniffles and Gintoki's existential dread, the night feels warmer than usual.

“We can try it with cooking oil?” Gintoki offers?

“You'll lose your dick and I'll need butt surgery,” Tatsuma sniffs, burying his face in Gintoki's chest.

Gintoki ponders deeply. “How about we get a hotel in the red light district?”

“Ehhh? We're married!”

Gintoki grins wildly, “all the better.”

The next evening, they end up at a nice little love hotel tucked away at the corner of the district, but thirty seconds into a blowjob, the Shinsengumi raid the love hotel, and Gintoki makes a promise to the gods that he'll have Kondou's head just like he has Kondou's butt virginity. Needless to say, no one is happy, and it takes many, many days of intense imploring on Gintoki's side so Tatsuma doesn't sign a set of divorce papers.

* * *

**Prompt: Future fic + SakaTaka**

Maybe it's age, or maybe it's because Nobunobu quits and goes into hiding while the Meiji restoration follows through, Shinsuke doesn't know why he ends up retreating to the countryside, but he does. He's found a tiny place to tuck into for the rest of his life while the remnants of the Kiheitai find new jobs and a boss that they can probably come to respect a lot more than Shinsuke. He's left behind Matako, Bansai, Henpeita, and even Kamui, who knows where he is but only comes to visit on Sundays so Shinsuke can air out the house.

He doesn't tell Gintoki, or Zura, or anyone else where he is, because he knows it'll be the same questions, the same accusations, the same shit he's been dealing with since he was born, the same shit he'll probably have to deal with again if he goes back to civilization. But, with hardly enough strength to even cook for himself these days, Shinsuke takes his usual seat against the open window ledge and begins to puff on his kiseru while a light snow blankets the world outside.

In the distance, there's a long-suffering wail of laughter, and Shinsuke thinks it's is a figment of his imagination because it's been seven years since he's holed up in this tiny house, four since Kamui transformed the Yato collective of the Harusame band into a mercenary group that took on humans like Matako and Bansai as lieutenants, two since Zura married the Renho, and six months since a violent cough overtook Shinsuke's lungs. No where in that equation was there a mention of Sakamoto Tatsuma because Shinsuke didn't go to Kamui's inauguration, Zura's wedding, or to a doctor when his cough started to show blood. So when his eyelids get heavy and the snow starts to pick up, Shinsuke falls asleep.

Of course, when he's shaken awake by an obscenely tall man of roughly thirty-five years of age, Shinsuke blinks once and promptly goes back to sleep. He wakes up again when he feels a needle prod his arm. Tatsuma sits chuckling with people dressed in white, and Shinsuke doesn't need a translator to tell him that they're doctors. His working eye surveys his room and he sees that Tatsuma has colonized his house and made it a lot cozier than Shinsuke has ever intended.

“What do you want?” Shinsuke grouses a few days later when he's finally breathing normally and he's eating something besides soba noodles and sake.

“To take care of you,” Tatsuma tells him in between bites of curry, as if it were the most normal assumption in the world.

Shinsuke sighs and continues with his meal because he knows better than to inquire any further. In his thirty-five years, his actions have spoken louder than his words. He'd beaten older kids for picking on him, lashed out at his siblings for underestimating him, and given Zura the cold shoulder when he was feeling especially pretentious- but words. Words are for kings, and Takasugi Shinsuke is no king.

That night, Shinsuke falls asleep last. Tatsuma's hand is inches away from his own, and when he grasps it, he sighs. Maybe it isn't the future he'd hoped for, or the person he'd counted on, but this- this is his reality. He turns towards Tatsuma's sleeping face, devoid of worries, eyes still crinkling into a sleepy smile. Shinsuke squeezes the taller man's long fingers and whispers a soft prayer.

Maybe it's not the future Shinsuke had in mind, but it's one he'll cherish.

* * *

**Prompt: Hurt/Comfort + Utsuro and Oboro platonic relationship**

After he kills Umibozu and his son, Utsuro locks Oboro away in the deepest part of his castle. It's a conscious decision based on several reams of field notes, and Utsuro's come to the conclusion that children are often terrible partners-in-crime. They could be trusted to make you laugh, make a mess, and make you regret ever having them, but leading a criminal enterprise? Absolutely worthless.

Oboro begs, crawls on his hand and knees, implores for a second chance, but Utsuro says nothing. One jab to the neck, and he crumples at his feet. Sakata Gintoki screams for Utsuro to stop, but that's a child Utsuro will deal with later, as this one needs to be handled first. He slings Oboro over his shoulder and leaves the battlefield with his cape draped over Umibozu's headless figure and his massacred son.

“Please let me out,” Oboro whispers one frosty morning.

“No,” Utsuro beams, spooning him soup.

“Please, Father,” Oboro asks tiredly, eyes drifting over to the open doors that lead out to a balcony guarded by red-eyed crows. “You can't keep me in here forever.”

Utsuro's face falls, a dead-eyed visage that brings with it memories of a past life where he had a wife, children, a family he could call home. It's been over a thousand years since they've died.

“That's where you're wrong, Obo-chan,” Utsuro perks up again. “I can keep you here for eternity, if I want.”

“What did I do to deserve this?”

Utsuro raises an eyebrow, dabbing a napkin at the corner of Oboro's mouth. “You took on Sakata Gintoki after I specifically told you to lead him away from your battle with the rest of the former Joui patriots. Insubordination of that scale gets soldiers killed, Obo-chan.”

“You could have killed me if you wanted,” Oboro sputters bitterly, shoving away the spoonful of soup.

Utsuro shifts between Utsuro and a man that lived a thousand years ago, a man that lived twenty-two years ago and took in a stray with silver hair and red eyes, a man that once had a wife and children, a man that wasn't a monster. His hands twitch, baying for Oboro's blood, wishing to strangle the life out of him so Utsuro could thrive and the child-killer could bring the world to its feet.

But when he takes a long look at Oboro's pale face, dead eye, and limbless stump, Utsuro remembers that he's killed, but he's never killed one of his children. So maybe he was a product of the filth of the world, but he wasn't so filthy that he'd go as far as kill his son.

“You hurt me, Obo-chan,” Utsuro mock-sniffles. “After all I've done for you, you can't even take a decade to humor this old man?”

“I've been humoring you for thirty-seven years now.”

“And you'll humor me for thirty-seven more, if I so desire,” Utsuro beamed. “Now, it's time to sleep. I'll see you in the morning, Obo-chan.”

Once the dishes are cleared away and Utsuro locks the door to Oboro's chambers, the demon crow steps out into the darkness of the night and surveys his poisoned kingdom.

“Sakata Gintoki escaped to Earth again and is hiding away with Mukuro. Would you like for us to get them for you?” The nameless crow asks its king.

A pale sliver in the sky tells Utsuro the moon has no intention of bothering him tonight. “No. I'd like to bring them home myself. It's time for a family reunion, don't you think?”

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Prompt: Angst/Hurt/Comfort + Gintoki and Utsuro**

“And what, exactly, do you want me to do?” Utsuro asks him on a bright, Thursday afternoon by the sea.

To be honest, Gintoki doesn't know what the hell he wants from the man with golden hair. He knows he wants an explanation as to why he's alive, but according to sources, that particular explanation is a no-brainer and no one will give him any additional details because there _aren't_ details to give. Altana makes Utsuro an immortal, and that immortality grants him the ability to transcend space, time, and even death. How else would the asshole have survived both a beheading _and_ a cremation?

“Why didn't you come back to me,” Gintoki asks honestly, because it's a question that's been haunting him since he saw Oboro squabble with the immortal man, since Utsuro brushed off Oboro, since Oboro huffed and puffed and went back to the ship while Shouyou put on his signature smile and smugly teased the man even as he retreated away from him.

“Because Oboro needs me,” Utsuro tells Gintoki like it's the most obvious thing in the world. “He is my son, Shiroyasha-san, I have responsibilities to fulfill.”

“And I'm not your son?” Gintoki clips back scathingly because the day may be bright but his heart's brewing with its own particular storm.

“No,” Utsuro tells him honestly, “you haven't been my son for a while now, have you, Gintoki?”

* * *

**Prompt: Sakagin + UST**

“Like it?” Tatsuma giggled, aiding Gintoki’s shaky hand towards the inside of his thigh. “Zura helped me shave my legs and Elizabeth did my hair. Saigou did my makeup.”

“No coconut boobs?” Gintoki grinned, nipping at the shell of Tatsuma’s right ear.

“Thought my legs were a little more enchanting,” Tatsuma purred, spreading his silken thighs just a bit. “Wanna play?”

“Yes,” he blurted, and then started to salivate. “What did I do to deserve this? I spent the last paycheck on Sadaharu’s food and toilet paper.”

Tatsuma played with his double ponytails, pulling at a strand of his curly, brown hair. “Why don’t you find out?”

Of course, Gintoki didn’t need to be told twice and immediately began to tear at Tatsuma’s blue kimono, sliding his rough hand in between Tatsuma’s legs, earning a yelp and another string of “ahahahas.” Gintoki pulled Tatsuma into his lap, kissing him fiercely while another hand buried itself in the curly brown hair.

“G-Gintoki,” Tatsuma sighed. “D-do you know what day it is, today?” Tatsuma whined, raking his nails down Gintoki’s shirtless back.

Gintoki grunted in response, fervently sucking on Tatsuma’s neck while pressing his length against the inside of Tatsuma's exposed thigh.

“RENT DAY, BITCH!” Otose screeched, killing Gintoki’s hardon in one fell swoop.

Tatsuma ahahaha’d off Gintoki’s lap while Otose and the Snackhouse occupants swarmed the room with brooms and cameras while Gintoki sat flushed on the futon in his strawberry boxers.

“No,” he croaked fearfully.

And so that fateful night, Otose, Catherine, and Tama strung up the resident NEET samurai in his underwear, and allowed for the rest of Kabukichou to throw rotten vegetables at him while Tatsuma, in his fixed kimono and with his touched-up makeup and hair pigtailed properly, scored a date with a rich investor and not only got a promise of marriage but also a three million dollar contract with the local steel plant.

All in all, a regular night in a regular town. Gintoki even cried, and he didn’t definitely didn’t catch any orgasms.

* * *

**Prompt: Abuto x Yamazaki + (Future fic) for the 10 sentence meme, please? I really enjoyed** **your chaptered fanfic for this pair! :D**

“Abutoooo~ I know you're lying to me,” sing-songed a horrible, evil entity with a single red braid and an ahoge that signaled death and destruction.

“I didn't say anything,” whimpered a poor, innocent old man by the name of 'Abuto.'

“But we've known each other for fifteen years!” Kamui pouted, earning a string of snickers from Takasugi.

“I have no idea who you are,” Abuto said gravely, his eyes darting back and forth between his evil captain and dainty looking man who earnestly chewed on anpan and took measured sips of chocolate vodka.

“Let the man be,” Takasugi interrupted when Abuto looked like he was about to pass out from Kamui's intense interrogation tactics.

“No!” Kamui declared. “I wanna know if he likes the plain Jane!”

“More like plain Joe,” Matako scoffed, taking a swig of her appletini.

“My name is Yamazaki Sagaru, and you leave that poor man alone, you utter assholes.”

The Kiheitai and Harusame crowd blinked and gaped as the anpan man quickly grabbed Abuto by his flesh wrist and pulled him up. There was a maniacal glint in his eyes, one that wasn't present earlier in the night. Abuto immediately undid the first three clasps of his changshan to show off his broad chest and obvious attraction.

“Disgustening,” Matako hissed scathingly as the plain Joe grabbed Abuto's butt as they hurried out of the bar and into the upstairs inn.

“At least he's getting laid,” Kamui sighed morosely. “I wish I could get laid.”

“You got laid this morning,” Takasugi deadpanned.

“A Yato man has frequent needs,” Kamui mansplained.

“Disgustening,” Matako clipped scathingly again, “you're all disgustening.”

“She's just mad she didn't win,” Bansai noted out loud.

All in all, a regular night for a crowd of irregular folk.

* * *

**Prompt: Sakagin + Humor**

“OK, so how badly do you have to fuck up a deal that the guy you're making a deal with thinks it's appropriate to force you into marrying him because you fucked up the deal that bad?”

“I was drunk? Ahahahahaaaaaaa-ouch!”

“He was drunk,” Mutsu deadpanned, “and now the king of the Purple Gorilla Squad wants the idiot to marry him so he can gain control of Earth's trade relations with other planets.”

“And you let him go to a deal... drunk?” Gintoki rubbed his forehead and took a shot of strawberry milk. “Tell me you're kidding.”

“Unfortunately, my blood was 75% pure vodka that night, so I take full responsibility for my actions,” Tatsuma said solemnly.

“Which means that if you don't marry him and scare off the Purple Gorilla King, idiot here will be carrying half purple gorilla and half human children,” Mutsu concluded.

“Mutsu!”

“Tatsuma, you idiot!”

“Ahahaha! Ahahahahahahaha!”

So on a bright day, in front of thousands of Kabukichou residents, Gintoki married the merchant and when the Purple Gorilla King tried to swarm their lovenest (read: love hotel in the red light district because Tatsuma lost his wallet and Gintoki bought four parfaits instead of one, earlier at the ice cream parlor), Gintoki fought for his new husband's honor, won, and then they made love in an alley behind a hostess bar because they were a pair of degenerates, but at least they were _married_ degenerates.

* * *

**Prompt: Ginzura + Crack**

“We're going to have to kill you, Katsura-san,” Shinpachi sighed heavily. “I'm sorry it had to end this way.”

“Shinpachi-kun,” Katsura wheezed, clutching at the stab wound at his side, “what did I do to deserve this?”

“You got Gin-chan pregnant and then you ran away,” Kagura said gravely, pressing the mouth of her umbrella gun against his temple. “Sayonara, Zura.”

“Leade-”

_BANG!_

Katsura woke up with a start and shoved Gintoki off his chest in the process.

“What the fuck, Zura,” mumbled the silver-haired man, rubbing his sleep-addled eyes.

“Are you pregnant?” Zura demanded hastily.

Gintoki pointed at the small bump glaringly obvious on his usually toned stomach. “You knocked me up six weeks ago, asshole, of course I'm pregnant.”

“How do we know it's not an intestinal worm!?” Zura cried helplessly.

“Because that's not how curses work!” Gintoki barked. “If you hadn't disrespected the demon lady, we wouldn't be in this position!”

“I don't want to die,” Zura sobbed, clutching his pillow.

“I'm the one carrying your devil spawn, wighead!”

“SHUT THE HELL UP!” Kagura screeched from outside their door.

Katsura sniffled, cuddling up to Gintoki's slouching figure. “I promise I won't abandon you with child.”

“I hope not,” Gintoki deadpanned. “Kagura would murder you.”

Katsura openly began sobbing again. “I knoooooow.”

It took three punches from Kagura and three smacks from Shinpachi's sandal to make Katsura shut up and go back to sleep. Gintoki, for once, did not receive any beatings and wordlessly thanked the demon lady for getting him out of nine months worth of rent and a hundred years worth of Shinpachi and Kagura-led ass whuppings.

* * *

 

 


End file.
